By Zack Sulkis – Social Media Editor-In-Chief

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign dropped their long awaited collaboration album “Vultures 1” by surprise on February 9. This is the first of three editions the duo is going to release and if Volumes 2 and 3 end up sounding anything like Volume 1, they are going to have three instant classics on their hands.

“Vultures 1” demonstrates a sound that’s both experimental yet very signature to Kanye West. The album has some striking similarities to some of Ye’s past work like “Yeezus” and “Life of Pablo.”

“Vultures 1” feels like a much needed return for Kanye West, leaving the clean era of albums like “Jesus is King” and “Donda” behind and going back to his gritty ways with hard hitting beats and iconic features.

The best example of this is on the song “CARNIVAL.” “CARNIVAL” is a song by the duo that additionally features Playboi Carti and Rich the Kid and is truly a masterpiece. “CARNIVAL” is a fast-paced, hard-hitting song that shares similarities to Travis Scott’s “FE!N” which was released last year which also featured Playboi Carti. The song has a chanting chorus with multiple fast verses that give off the vibe of some of Kanye’s earlier work on albums like “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” where so many artists are featured that every rapper has one verse and they switch from one person to another, dropping iconic lines one after another. 

Other notable songs include “BURN,” “PAPERWORK,” “PAID,” “VULTURES,” “BACK TO ME,” and “KING.” All the songs feature very unique sampling, most notably with “BACK TO ME” having audio samples from the 90s comedy Dogma which make up the majority of the chorus. 

Kanye West is a very controversial rapper who is always making headlines for many different reasons. His wild persona and unhinged behavior had many outlets writing off the album before it even released but that didn’t seem to phase Kanye. 

In the song “KING,” Kanye raps, “Still the king, still the/They thought headlines was my kryptonite/Still the king, still the king.” 

Although Ty Dolla $ign is one of two in the duo, it’s obvious the whole center of attention on this album is being given to Kanye, for better or for worse.

At the end of the day, love him or hate him, it’s impossible to stop Kanye from doing what he loves and making iconic art. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars